My Progress with the Regimen - Things are AWESOME!

(Feel free to skip the boring parts. Just want this for anyone who may be in my position and needs the support.)

History:

I'm 26 now, and like everyone, I've struggled with moderate acne since early teenage years. It was always a problem through high school, but nothing ever really helped, at least not topicals. My freshman year of college, I went on ortho tri-cyclen, which helped a bit. Unfortunately, I couldn't stay on it because of health insurance reasons.

I wanted to try ProActiv for the longest time, but didn't order it until 2006. I was never fully committed and dedicated to it, so it didn't help much. I switched to mineral makeup in the fall of 07, which helped some. Then in January of 08, I moved into a new apartment at a new school and decided it was time to be more responsible with my skin. I started using ProActiv as recommended, and I definitely saw improvements. Even after I switched back to regular liquid foundation ($$ reasons, I LOVED mineral!) my skin was still pretty clear. Last spring was one of the first times I've ever had that my skin didn't really effect my self-esteem very much. I ran out of ProActiv last May and didn't re-order, thinking I could get some over the counter stuff that worked ok. I'd been using Aveno clear complexion moisturizer for awhile, and I loved it, so I got the face wash. It didn't work quite as well, but was still doing ok for a few months.

Then something happened this fall semester. I don't know what it was - traveling more than usual, stress from school, the political season (I was highly active and it got super stressful) - but my acne got bad. Then in October, my grandpa died and my stress levels went through the roof. My face got so bad that my dad actually commented on it during one family dinner, something he never does because he knows that I'm sensitive. I told him I hadn't changed my daily life, but it was something out of my control.

I get really bad hormonal acne during ovulation. I get cysts and pustules and they HURT. They weren't going away between cycles and I was starting to get really miserable. I was dreading Thanksgiving and Christmas, because that means pictures everywhere. Finals and my birthday were the same week and everything was just going wrong. And my face reflected that. Make-up wasn't even concealing what I had.

On the Regimen:

So in December, I found this site and decided I wanted to try the Acne.org regimen, but had to wait to order until I got the money. I ordered in early January and started January 14th. These pictures are from that night, and are in a relatively mild acne cycle, a couple new lesions, but nothing out of control.


Thus far, I've not seen much of a difference. In fact, because of my cycle, I've broken out a bit more than these pictures, but I expected that. Because of the ProActive, my face isn't terribly sensitive to the BP. I've not had the redness that many people report.

This is what I'm doing:

Morning -
Dan's Cleanser - 15 seconds
Dan's BP - 1/2 pump
Dan's moisturizer - full pump

Night -
Same

I use more moisturizer because I live in Colorado and its so dry and windy here. And cold. I need to find a good moisturizer with sunscreen, again because its Colorado and I walk to class, so I'm outside quite a bit. I just noticed flakiness today around my nose and the corners of my mouth. It's not major, so I'm not worrying about it. They don't show after moisturizing.

Last night was the first time I've had stinging, because I got too close to the corners of my eyes. It went away after putting a cool wet cloth on them for about 5 minutes. Today my upper lip is stinging a bit, which is weird. I'll lay off the BP in that area, because I don't tend to break out there anyway.

I'll post pictures tomorrow of my 1 week progress. There's not much difference, but I figure weekly updates will be good.

Thanks for reading!